Ours was a 1963 Corvair. My parents loved that little “engine in the back” car, even though it was constantly breaking down. My dad bought another corvair and had it towed to our driveway so he could use it to pick off parts to repair ours.
Our neighbors had a corvair also, I think it was a 1966, and also a little red Renault. If i remember correctly (I was just a little kid), that car also got up our hill very well. Did it also have an engine in the back? I seem to remember that it did.
My brand new Corvair was like 1 week old, when stopped at a traffic light I smelled burning rubber. I pulled over to the side, opened the hood, and the insulation in the engine compartment was literally melting. I noticed the fan belt was broken! I let the car cool down and drove to the dealer, and they installed a new belt. Never had any other trouble after that for the 3 years and 36,000 miles I drove the car. The fan belt was still running in broken state, so the idiot light never came on.
In those they used V-Belts for cooling fan, and those were notorious for trouble. Now they have the serpentine belts which seem to last for ever. The Corvair engine V-belt design had twists and turns which were very hard on the V-belt. So I always carried a spare belt in car. I also made sure the belt was stretched just right. Never had a broken belt after that first incident.